Means for gathering or pleating textile and like material



May 6, 1941. G, c E, KEET 2,240,990

MEANS FOR GATHERING OR PLEATING TEXTILE AND LIKE MATERIAL Filed Fb. 1, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 44 44 56 24 1422 f ha fim 1d 42 2a y 1941- G. c. E. KEET 2,240,990

MEANS FOR GATHERING OR PLEATING TEXTILE AND LIKE MATERIAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 1, 1939 IIIII/II/I/III f/lIIIIIII/II/ /IIIIIIIIIIIII/IIIIIIIJIIIIIIIIIIII/I n 5 n m Patented May 6, 1941 ran es ItlEAN S TOR GATHERING OR PLEA'TING TEXTILE AND LIKE MATERIAL Gabriel Christiaan Erasmus Keet, Johannesburg, Transvaal, Union of South Africa Application February 1, 1939, Serial No. 254,014 lln the Union of South Africa November 24, 1938 '2 Claims.

The present invention consists of means for gathering or pleating cloth or textile and like materials preparatory to smocking the same.

Gathering preparatory to smocking is at present usually done by hand and this is a long and .tedious operation, and the object of the present invention is to devise a simple means or machine which will accomplish the gathering or pleating quickly, accurately and effectively.

According to the invention the means or machine includes a pair of rotated meshing toothed wheels between which the material is passed, and which impart the requisite folding for the gathering ,or pleating thereto, and one or a plurality of threaded needles adapted to pass through the folded material to retain the folded formation.

The wheels are grooved or recessed peripherally or circumferentially to provide one or a plurality of openings or spaces in and between th wheels, in each of which openings or spaces the end portion of a needle or needles can be arranged.

If a plurality of the corresponding peripheral .may be constructed in sections or be built up of ,a number of narrow wheels having their teeth aligned and fashioned at the sides to form or leave the grooves or recesses. 1

Means are provided for moving the one wheel away from the other, either to insert the material to be gathered, or remove it, or to adjust the one wheel in relation to the other to adapt them to different thicknesses of material, or to vary the width of the pleats or folds. These means consist in rotatably carrying the one wheel in a hinged or pivoted bridle or frame so that it may be raised from and lowered on to the other, and providing means for fixing the bridle when the wheels are in full mesh or in any adjusted position.

Means are provided at a suitable distance from the wheels for carrying or supporting the needle or needles which take or collect the folded material and pass through it the gathering thread or threads by means of which the folded or pleated formation obtained by the meshing toothed wheels is retained,

The means for carrying or supporting the needles is made movable by pivoting it, so that the end portions of the needles can be adjusted in the openings or spaces, or moved therefrom to permit the gathered material to be removed from the needles. Provision is made for fixing the needle carrier in any adjusted position of the needles.

The invention will be more fully explained with the aid of the accompanying drawings, wherein- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the means or machine.

Fig. 2 is aplan of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation of Fig. 1 on line :c-m.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the means or machine showing the bridle or member carrying the upper toothed wheel moved to raise the Wheel, and the n edle carrier rotated to raise the needles. 7

Referring now to the drawings in which a practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated,

' l denotes the one and upper toothed wheel, and

2 the other and lower toothed wheel adapted to mesh with the wheel I to impart the folding for the gathering or pleating of the material which passes between the wheels. The teeth of the wheels I, 2, are preferably narrow at the edges or formed with comparatively sharp outer edges, as shown, and when meshing allow sufiicient clearance between them to permit of the passage of the textile material between them without cutting or damaging the same.

The wheels l, 2, are rotatably arranged in a frame or framework 3, shown of shallow U shape in cross-section, or provided with a base portion 6 and upright sides 5, E5.

The wheel 2 is built up of a number of separate sections or small wheels 2a, arranged with their teeth aligned upon the squared central portion of a shaft or spindle l. The shaft 1 is reduced in diameter at its outer ends and said end portions 8 are shown journalled in open-ended bearings 9, ill, which are formed out of the base 4 of the frame 3 by cutting the same and bending up the portions ii, l2. This construction leaves spaces between the portions l I, I2, and the sides 5, 6, of the frame 3 to accommodate surplus material at the sides of the material being gathered.

The wheel I is rotatably mounted, through the medium of its shaft or spindle 13, in a U-shaped member or bridle 14, which is pivotally attached at its outer ends by bolts l5, E6, to the sides 5, 6, respectively of the frame 3, at the front and near the top. The wheel I, as shown, is built up of a number of separate sections or small wheels Ia arranged, with their teeth aligned, upon the squared central portion of the shaft or spindle I3, between collars or washers I I, Ill. The collars or washers IT, IS, are placed next stop pins I9, 20, passing through the squared portion of the shaft I3, and a coiled spring 2| is interposed be tween the collar or washer I! and the adjacent wheel section Ia, to keep the wheel sections la. in proper position. The shaft or spindle I3 is made cylindrical near the ends at 22 and 23, and beyond said portions 22, 23, is reduced in diameter at 24, 25, respectively, and journalled in holes or bearings in the bridle I4. Beyond the cylindrical portion 24 the shaft I3 is formed with a squared portion 23 upon which is fixed a handle 2! for turning the wheel I and through it the meshing wheel 2; 28 being a screw screwed into the end of the shaft I3 for securing the V handle 21 on the squared portion 25 thereof.

The inner portion 29 of the bridle I4, near the sidesythelieof, is adapted to enter slots 30, 3!, formed in the vertical sides 5, 6, of the frame 3, and to rest on the frame 3 at the bottom of the slots 33, 3|, when the wheels I, 2, are fully in mesh. Open-ended slots 32, 33, formed in the underside of the bridle I4 pass over studs 34, 35, screwed in the sides 5, 5, of the frame 3, and wing nuts 35, 31, on said studs 34, 35, serve for fixing the bridle I4 to the sides 5, 6, of the frame 3 when said bridle I4 is in its lowermost position, or when it is slightly raised to adapt the means or machine to thicker material or vary the width of the gathering of the material. Openended slots 38, 33, are formed in the sides 5, 6, of the frame 3 to provide clearance for the cylindrical portions 22, 23, of the shaft I3 when the bridle I4 is lowered tobring the wheel I into mesh with the wheel 2.

In the form shown in the drawings circumferentialor peripheral grooves or recesses 49 are provided at regular intervals in the wheel I, extending inwardly to the roots of the teeth of said wheel I, and shallower correspondingly positioned circumferential or peripheral grooves or recesses 4| are provided in the wheel 2. The grooves 49 and M in the wheels I and 2 respectively form the openings or spaces 42 in which the wheel sections Ia with a spacing boss 44, and

the grooves or recesses M are made by grooving vor shaping the side edges of the teeth of the wheel sections 2a to the requisite depth.

43a is the thread.

45 represents the needle carrier or means for holding the needles 43. The needles are shown ofthe ordinary sewing machine type with the eye at the piercing or sharpened end, and are adapted to be held at the otherand enlarged rear end 46,

' for whichpurpose theyare rounded on the underside and provided at the top with the fiattened surfaces 41, see Fig. 3. The carrier 45 includes a lower member or bar 48 provided with grooves 49 in which the rounded surfaces of the enlarged rear ends '46 of the needles 43 are arranged, and a shorter upper member or bar 50 adapted to clamp the needles 43 in the grooves 49 by engaging the flattened surfaces 41 thereof. 5| are clamping thumbscrews which pass through holes in the upper member or bar 50 and engage in screw-threaded holes in the lower member or bar 48 and act to press the bar 50 on to the needles to clamp them. The lower member or bar 48 is provided at the ends with trunnions 52, 53, which are journalled in open bearings or slots 54, 55, respectively in the sides 5, 6, of the frame 3. The trunnion 52 is provided with a reduced squared extension 56 upon which is arranged a lever or handle 51 for rotating the needle carrier in order to adjust the position of the needles 43 or raise them in order to remove the gathered material therefrom. The lever 51 can be fixed in any adjusted position of the needle carrier 45, and for this purpose is provided with an open-ended slot 58 in which engages a stud 59 screwed in the side 5 of the frame 3 and fitted with a wing-nut 60 which is adapted to clamp the lever 51 against said side 5.

Further open bearings or slots El, 62, for the trunnions 52, 53, and a screwed hole 63 for the stud 59 are shown provided in the frame 3 to allow of the needle carrier 45 being placed further back in the frame 3 to permit of longer needles 43 being used.

In the operation of the machine, in inserting the material to be gathered, I prefer to raise the upper wheel I in its bridle I4 and lay the material on the lower wheel 2 in front of the horizontally arranged threaded needles 43. The bridle I4 is then lowered to cause the wheel I to mesh with thewheel 2, and fixed in position by the wing nut 36, 31. Upon rotation of the handle 21 the material passes through and is folded by the meshing wheels I, 2, and is pierced by and fed or pressed on to the threaded needles 43. When all the material to be gathered, or sufilcient of it to fill the needles 43, has

been folded and passed on to the needles 43, the wing nuts 36, 31, are loosened and the bridle I4 raised to move the wheel I from the wheel 2. The wing nut 69 is then loosened and the lever 51 rotatedsee Fig. 4to move the needle carrier 45 about its trunnions 52, 53, and raise the needles 43 so that the gathered material can be removed therefrom together with the gathering threads.

The sectional construction of the wheels I, 2, permits of sections Ia, 2a, of different widths being used in conjunction with a correspondingly grooved needle carrier 45, to vary the distance between the gathering threads as desired.

What I claim as my invention and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. Means for gathering or pleating textile and like material, including a frame, a pair of rotatable meshing toothed wheels arranged one above the other between which the material is passed and by which it is pleated, the lower wheel being rotatably mounted in the frame, the wheels being constructed with a pluralityof circumferential aligned grooves forming openings between them, a U-shaped bridle pivoted to the frame in front of the wheels and rotatably carrying the upper wheel that the latter can be moved away from the lower wheel, a threaded needle arranged in each of said openings in the wheels which openings receive the needles in the operative position thereof the pointed end portion of which needle lies between the wheels, a needle carrier constructed in two parts between which the needles are clamped, said needle carrier being pivoted so that the points of the needles can be lifted out of the openings in the lower wheel after the upper wheel has been raised, and means for fixing said pivoted needle carrier when the points of the needles are in the openings, as set forth.

2. Means for gathering or pleating textile and like material, including a frame, a pair of rotatable meshing toothed wheels arranged one above the other, the lower wheel being rotatably mounted in the frame, the wheels being constructed with a plurality of circumferential aligned grooves forming openings between them, a U-shaped bridle pivoted to the frame in front of the wheels and rotatably carrying the upper wheel so that the latter can be raised from the lower wheel, means for fixing said bridle to the frame when the wheels are meshing, a threaded needle arranged in each of said openings in the wheels which openings receive the needles in the operative position thereof the pointed end portion of which needle lies between the wheels, a needle carrier constructed in two parts between which the needles are clamped, said carrier being pivoted so that the points of the needles can be lifted out of the openings in the lower wheel after the upper wheel has been raised, and means for fixing said pivoted needle carrier to the frame when the points of the needles are in the openings, as set forth,

GABRIEL CHRISTIAAN ERASMUS KEET. 

